Tennis is an extremely popular sport, both in the United States and in other countries throughout the world. As a recreational sport, tennis has always been very popular with adults and children of all ages. Moreover, in recent years, tennis has emerged as a widely followed professional sport as well, with several major tournaments televised each year.
As an amateur sport, tennis is popular for a number of reasons. For example, tennis is an all-season sport. It may be played indoors at any time, and may be played outdoors in suitable weather. Because tennis is a nonviolent, noncontact sport, tennis appeals to parents who are hesitant to involve their children in sports such as football or hockey. Those interested in the game of tennis can participate for a minimal cost, by, for example, making use of the facilities available at public parks. In addition, tennis lessons are widely available, at beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels.
Tennis players at all levels typically practice by repeatedly performing the same action, such as a serve or forehand shot. In some instances, an instructor will serve the tennis balls to the student, who will then attempt to return the ball. In other cases, a tennis player will practice with the aid of an automated tennis ball serving machine. Such a machine is particularly useful for tennis instruction at all levels. For example, it allows a tennis player to practice without the aid of an instructor. In addition, if the machine is used during a tennis lesson, the instructor may monitor the progress of the students from a few feet away, rather than having to serve the balls from across the court.
Of course, in any tennis lesson or practice session, a large number of tennis balls will be used. In particular, when a tennis ball serving machine is used, as many as several hundred tennis balls may be served during the course of a single lesson or session. All of these tennis balls must be retrieved from the tennis court during and at the end of the lesson or session.
Because of the difficulty and inconvenience of bending down to pick up each tennis ball individually, tennis players typically use a tennis ball retrieving device to gather the tennis balls. A number of such tennis ball retrieving devices have been developed to date. For example, one commonly used device comprises a tube having an opening slightly smaller than the diameter of a tennis ball. To collect tennis balls, the user presses down individually on each ball with the tube, causing the ball to compress slightly and squeeze into the tube. Other conventional tennis ball retrieving devices include baskets and similar apparatuses made of wire mesh, having mesh openings slightly smaller than that of a tennis ball. These devices allow the user to pick up two or three tennis balls in a single pass.
Conventional tennis ball retrieving devices suffer from a number of drawbacks. The most significant disadvantage is the substantial amount of time required to retrieve a large number of tennis balls using such devices, especially when an automated tennis ball server is used. A second disadvantage of such conventional devices, particularly the basket-type devices, is that they become heavy as they become filled with tennis balls. Because the user must pick up the apparatus each time he or she moves it to the next tennis ball, a significant possibility of shoulder or back injury arises with the use of such devices. Although tennis ball retrievers including a rolling barrel have been designed in an attempt to overcome these shortcomings, these devices have been observed to be ineffective in retrieving tennis balls, inasmuch as they tend to push the tennis balls away rather than retrieve the tennis balls. The present invention seeks to provide tennis ball retrievers and associated methods that overcome these drawbacks.